Fallsington Meeting History

A paper read at Fallsington, Pennsylvania, Fifth month 20,
1933, at the meeting held in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the
founding of Falls Monthly Meeting.

This afternoon I wish to take you back two hundred and fifty
years and try to picture this community as it was at the time, and before the
coming, of the Quakers. Let us consider
some of the landmarks and a few of the characters who lived here, and
established a meeting at the Falls on the Second of Third Month, 1683---the day
we now celebrate.

The Falls of the
Delaware, or Sankikan, as the Indians called it, now only a rapid between the
bridges connecting Morrisville and Trenton, was the outstanding landmark in
this part of the wilderness. Early historians tell us of a Dutch trading post here in
1624, which carried on a profitable trade with the Indians, and report that the
Dutch held undisputed sway on the South River (the Delaware) until the coming
of the Swedes. Later research has
questioned this story; but we do know that in 1633 Thomas Young, son of a
London merchant, twice ascended the river up to the Falls and erected the coat
of arms of England on a tree, taking the country into possession with the usual
ceremonies. He says, "I enquired of
this (Indian) king how far this river ranne up into the country and whether it
were navigable or no. He told me it ranne a great way up and that I might goe
with my ship until I came to a certaine place where the rockes ranne cleane
acrosse the river and that there he thought I could not goe over with my great
canoas (for so they call all vesselles that swimme upon the water)."

In 1638 the Swedes
under the leadership of Peter Minuit came to make their settlement on these
shores. They purchased in 1640, from the
Indians, undoubtedly the Lenni Lenape, a strip of land along the west bank of
the river from Cape Henlopen to Sankikan-the first purchase by Europeans from
Indians in Bucks County. From that time
on the Dutch and Swedes held joint occupancy along the river until both were
driven out by the English.

In 1655 Peter
Luidstrom, a Swedish engineer, surveyed the river from its mouth to the Falls,
and is thus quoted: "Along the west
side of the river to the Island Minachkonk (Biles Island) and again down
Sipaessinghs Land (that comprising Penns Manor) it is everywhere low country
favorable for maize." Sipaessinghs
Land was especially mentioned in the first deed to William Penn in 1682 for
land in Bucks County; the price named is 10 guns and some black and white
wampum.

The middle of that
century marked the beginning of much travel to New York from various
directions, and the crossing at the Falls became increasingly popular as the
main overland route between the colonies north and south. The route was marked by a mere bridle path
through the woods; but this path was none-the-less the King's Path.

Governor Andros of
New York with his retinue traveled this path on his way to New Castle to attend
Court in 1675, and purchased a strip of land for eight or nine miles on either
side of the Falls, along the King's Path, and also established a ferry.

The first Friend
mentioned was William Edmundson from Ireland, who was traveling in this country
on a religious visit in 1678. He lost
his way in coming from Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and was taken across the river
near the Falls in a canoe by Indians and directed on his way to Upland, now
Chester.

A quotation from the
Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, a Labadist from Holland who passed this way in
1697, is descriptive. He writes: "We arrived at Falls of South River,
about sundown, passing a creek where a new grist mill was erected by the
Quakers who live hereabouts in great numbers. As it was still daylight and we
had heard so much of the Falls of the South River, we went to look at
them. We had supposed it was a place
where water came tumbling down in great quantity. But these falls are nothing more than a place
of about two English miles in length or not so much, where the river is full of
stones, almost across it, which are not very large."

It was in 1678 that
the first English settler, one John Woods, a husbandman, actually selected a
site on the western bank of the river at the Falls, near Potato Creek, and
named it Graystone. George Brown, Robert Lucas, Richard Ridgeway, and William Biles, and some others, soon followed and occupied the
riverfront for a considerable distance down the western bank from the Falls.

In that same year the
Court ordered that "Every person should, as far as his land reaches, make
good and passable ways from neighbor to neighbor, with bridges where it needs,
to the end that neighbors on occasion may come together."

Immigration increased
rapidly from this time on, so that the district of Falls, that portion of the
township lying between Pennsbury and the river above Biles Island, had become a
small settlement by 1680. It was also
called Crewcorne, or Crookhorn, after the market town and parish of Crewkerne,
in Somersetshire, England. Official
papers speak of it as "ye new seated towne," and the first court of
the county, called the Court of Crewcorne at the Falls," was held here
along the river. The first courthouse in the county was erected in the Borough
of Morrisville. When the townships
were laid out the place for the name of this township was left blank on the
map. Since no more appropriate than Falls appeared for the township, it has
born that name to the present day.

These pioneers were
men and women of courage and the religious conviction so greatly needed for the
hardship and suffering that must have been theirs before they became firmly
rooted in the new world. But we must remember that these hardships were
doubtless sweet in comparison to the persecution they had suffered in the
homeland. Many came first to
Burlington, but attracted by Sipaessinghs Land, decided to cast their lot on
this side of the river. They continued to be members of Burlington Monthly
Meeting until some time later.

Richard Ridgeway,
probably the first tailor in the country, was one of the earliest to come. He settled along the river in 1679 where he
lived until 1690, when he went to West Jersey. Robert Lucas and
William Biles were also of this number, and at the session of the first court
held at Upland under Penn's jurisdiction in 1681 they were both Justices. Moreover, they represented Bucks several
times at Assemblies held at Upland.

Biles was a fearless
leader of the Popular or Democratic party in the Assembly. His altercation with
Lieutenant Governor Evans in 1705 shows lively spirit. He was accused of calling Evans a boy and
"not fit to be our Governor" saying "We'll kick him
out." Though he denied the charge,
Evans sued him for damages and demanded that he be expelled from the Assemblly.
William Penn sided against Biles.
Finally the yearly Meeting persuaded Biles to acknowledge his fault and
Evans to forego collection of damages and to desist from further proceedings.
This was agreed upon though with this final thrust from the Governor; "He very much influences that debauched
county of Bucks in which there is now scarce any one man of worth left." William Biles's
house, probably the second he built, is still standing about two miles below
Morrisville along the river, and is the historic birthplace of this meeting.

It was probably on
the door of his house that Phineas Pemberton in 1683 posted a notice of the
establishment of the weekly post in response to William Penn's order to
"carefully published this information" on the meetinghouse doors and
other public places.

George Brown and his
wife, Mercy, came from Leicester, England in 1679. They came on the ship
together and were landed at New Castle. Here they were married and then
proceeded to the Falls, where they built a shelter roofed with Indian grass
over a framework of saplings and built against a cave dug near the river
bank. Here they lived their first winter
in America. George Brown was justice of
the peace in 1680. He was not a Friend,
but his son Samuel became one through convincement and was prominent in the
affairs of this meeting.

These first settlers
had acquired their tracts from Governor Andros, representative of the Duke of
York, and were under his jurisdiction until Lieutenant Governor Markham arrived
in 1681, with credentials from William Penn, and announced to the settlers the
grant of Pennsylvania. Apparently the
change in government made but little ripple in their lives.

They had held meetings
for worship in their different homes since 1680 so it is not surprising to find
them asking permission of Burlington Friends to establish a monthly meeting of
their own. The opening minute of this new meeting reads: "At a meeting at William Biles house on
the Second day of the Third Month, 1683, then held to wait upon the Lord for
his wisdom to hear what should be offered in order to inspect into the affairs
of the Church. And we whose names are as follows, being then present, thought
it fit and necessary that a Monthly Meeting should be set up both of men and
women Friends for that purpose. The Friends present: William Yardley, James
Harrison, Phineas Pemberton, William Biles, William Dark, Lyonel Brittain,
William Beaks." This was the first and only religious organization in the
township for many years. Women Friends met together simultaneously with the men
and the items of business closely paralleled those of men's meeting, giving
consent to marriage, assisting those in need and admonishing the forward.

The first item of
business to come before the new meeting was the proposed intention of marriage
of Samuel Dark and Anna Knight, but since Samuel Dark's certificate from his
home meeting in England had not then reached America "the Meeting desired them
to wait in patience until Friends were satisfied in it." Samuel and Anna, however, were not disposed
to "wait in patience", and accomplished their marriage outside the
meeting. Their conduct was felt to be disorderly and contrary to "the
truth which, they make pro-fession of," and they were asked to "bring
forth papers of condemnation of their actions": which they subsequently
did.

Richard Hough and
Margery Clowes, who also declared their intentions of marriage at that time,
were the first to be married within the new meeting. Richard Hough was one of
the most prominent figures in the county and was active in the Meeting for many
years. In politics, he differed with his brother-in-law, William Biles, Hough
adhering strongly to the Proprietary party under James Logan's leadership. He met an untimely death by drowning in the
Delaware while on his way to Philadelphia. Penn wrote of him: "I lament
the loss of honest Richard Hough. Such
men must needs be wanted where selfishness and forgetfulness of God's mercies
so much abound."

The meeting
authorized a burying ground "at the Point" on land given for the
purpose by Phineas Pemberton. This was the first Friends' burying ground in the
county. A part of it, containing the
graves of the Pemberton family, is still there, a small plot in a field along
the Delaware. It has been under the care
of this meeting from the beginning, a fund provided by Phineas Pemberton for
its maintenance being still used for that purpose. Some years ago the late
Henry Pemberton of Philadelphia restored the wall surrounding it and placed a
permanent marker in that plot.

Phineas Pemberton, a
grocer from Bolton, England, and by far the most prominent of the early
settlers in the county, arrived on the ship "Submission" with his
family and father Ralph aged 72, at almost the same time as William Penn. With him came James and Anne Harrison,
parents of Phebe Pemberton, also from Bolton, and their mother, Agnes Harrison,
aged 81.

Phineas Pemberton
selected a site below the Falls and built a house of logs which he called
"Grove Place." He is said to have lived in good style and had a
"sideboard" in his house. He was a leader in colonial affairs, and
Logan called him "That pillar of Bucks County." He held many offices
including that of Keeper of Rolls, and was clerk of all courts until his death.

"The records
kept by him are the earliest of the county.
They were written wholly by his hand and in them he has left a memorial
to himself that will not be lost as long as the history of the Commonwealth he
helped to establish, shall be read."
In 1687 he built a more comfortable house, which he later moved to
another location about five miles further inland. This second home named after
Bolton in England, has remained in the family ever since. It is now in
possession of his direct descendant, Effingham B. Morris, of Philadelphia.

The affairs of this
meeting lay close to his heart from the day of its setting up until his death
in 1702 at the early age of 52. Penn
wrote to Logan, "Poor Phineas Pemberton is a dying man and was not at
election though he crept to Meeting yesterday.
I am grieved at it for he has not his fellow and without him this is a
poor country indeed."

James Harrrison, the
friend and confident of Penn while still in England, was his agent at Pennsbury
for a number of years. Having declined Penn's appointment as Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court he became one of three Provincial judges in 1685, "who made their circuit in a boat rowed by a boatman paid by the
Province."

William Yardley came to these parts in 1682. He had the
distinction of acquiring his tract just sixteen days after the territory was
granted to Penn by Charles the Second. It was located on the present side of
Yardley and was called "Prospect Farm." A part of it is still held in
the Yardley family. At an early age
William Yardley became a minister of influence and was the first clerk of this
meeting. Thomas Janney, an
eminent minister, settled near Yardley in 1683, and conveyed to the meeting the
Slate Pit Hill burying ground located on the edge of the town.

Friends were careful
to look after the material as well as spiritual needs of their members. A cow and calf were purchased for one Friend,
but when another asked for a horse the meeting felt that "the man being a
stranger, the Meeting does agree to take further time to consider of it."
Later he received the horse and a day's plowing besides. If a widow married the
meeting took care that the rights of her children by the first marriage were
well protected before giving consent to her marriage. Neglect of attendance at
midweek meeting was prevalent then as now, and it was ordered that, "care
be taken that such Friends who are remiss in the observing of them be spoke
with, admonished, and stirred up to the frequenting of them." Friends were encouraged to avoid strong drink
at the time of marriages and burials, and individuals were dealt with both in
meeting and court for selling "spirits" to the Indians without
license.

The meeting in those
early days often acted as court and jury and settled many differences
efficiently and wisely, "that Truth might be cleared." William
Yardley complained that his neighbor, Eleanor Pownall, refused to set her fence
on their line surveyed according to government grants. Much tender advice from
the committee not availing to influence Eleanor, "William Yardley was left
at liberty to place his fence in the line laid out by the Surveyor." When
Lyonel Brittain and his wife quarreled and "gave out railing words,"
a committee spoke to them to condemn their so doing. Even in those days Friends
were actively concerned that love and unity should be preserved.

In 1689 definite steps were taken to have a central meeting
place. The minute reads: "it is
with unanimous consent concluded that a meeting house in a convenient place
from the riverside would be very serviceable." A committee, Thomas Janney, Richard Hough,
William Biles, John Rowland, Edmund Lovett and Phineas Pemberton, were
appointed to "look out a convenient place of land." The site was
chosen at a central location between Randal Blackshaw's and Samuel Burges's
land, where the great Southampton Road and other roads converged. Six acres of
land were conveyed by Sam Burges. When some years later an inaccuracy was
discovered in the deed, move land was given with the stipulation that a rent
quit of one grain of Indian corn should be paid annually when lawfully
demanded. The meetinghouse, twenty by
twenty-five feet in size, was built of timber at a cost of 41 pounds, the
carpenters having provided nails and hauled the timber. It had a gallery with banister and chimney.
After many delays in building it was ready for the first meeting in Seventh
month, 1690. This was the first of five houses used for meeting on these
grounds. It was in this building that William Penn attended meeting, and the
marriage of John and Mary Stocher was held therein. The second house was built in 1728, while the
third structure was presumably the hip-roofed house across the way, now
occupied by the Friends School. This is thought to have been the temporary
meeting place while the fourth was being built on the hill in 1789. The stucco house was built in 1841.

The burying ground
across the road was laid out in 1692 and a stable for horse soon appeared. In 1701 a horsing block and well were
added. A committee interviewed Samuel
Burges about cleaning the meetinghouse and making fires on cold days. This he agreed to do for twenty shillings per
annum, but two years later William Biles reports "he hath spoke with
Samuel Burges who refused to make fires and clean the meetinghouse any longer
except he can have near four pounds per annum." The meeting did not agree to this large
increase in salary, and the position passed into other hands.

Samuel Burges and his
wife Ellin lived a quarter of a mile below Fallsington. In 1685 they purchased
200 acres of land from John Rowland who bought it from William Penn's agents
for one silver shilling per acre. A part
of this is still owned by their descendants. They were the ancestors of a
number of noted people, among them ex-President Hoover and our neighbor and former
United States Senator, Joseph R. Grundy.
Concerning Ellin Burges, I have found the following minute of 1731: "Ellin Burges being very antient and
can't go to Meeting, desired that an evening meeting might be held at her
house, therefore agreed that one be held once in two weeks so long as Friends
shall see occasion, to begin at four o'clock."

When Pennsbury Manor
was laid out some grants of the Duke of York interfered with its limits and the
owner consented to the straightening of the lines. In consideration, William Penn set aside 120
acres of "common land" for use of the township near the center. It
was located next beyond the Burges tract.
When final sale was made by act of Legislature in 1684 the proceeds were
ordered applied to a common school fund, which yielded at $300 annually.

In 1733 Friends asked
permission to repair the old meetinghouse for a schoolhouse. This was granted and a school for the benefit
of poor children was established. The last of four successive schoolhouses on
this property, built in 1801, is attached to this meetinghouse. The oldest
inhabitants tell us that even after the public-school system came into the
township in 1836, this continued to be the only school in this immediate
neighborhood for a number of years. With the exception of a few years there has
been a friends school here for 200 years.

The story of the
heroism and hardships endured by the colonial women of Bucks County is a
chapter yet unwritten. When it is done may they receive their richly deserved
homage. The women must needs prepare the deer, turkey, and rabbit, to be had
for the shooting, and if, as happened in one family, their one gun became
disabled, the wife too went forth, and while her husband took deliberate aim,
she applied the torch to the priming. For the deer, besides providing meat for
the skillet, supplied a skin, which, tanned and dried, was stitched into
trousers, shirts and moccasins. In that
day they wore buckskin in Bucks County. Later when the crop of flax was
gathered, her busy spinning wheel provided drugget, linsey-woolsey, and worsted
for clothing. When they felt the need of
a cow she accompanied her husband on the long journey to New Castle. When they moved, the hominy block, hollowed
out of a tree stump, was a precious possession not left behind. But as the years past there was more grain,
for the land was fertile, and crops of tall rye and wheat waved in the wind. A
mill was built by a large rock just west of the village and to it many of the
members brought their sacks of wheat and hominy on horseback, leaving them
there to be ground while they went on to meeting. Some of the women came on
foot from Buckingham, twenty miles away, leading their little children by the
hand, carrying hem over the swollen steams. One of my faraway grandmothers who
lived above Yardley preferred walking to meeting at an advanced age.

In marked contrast to
this picture of the pioneer was the life at Pennsbury, where William Penn had
his country set of 8000 acres. A house
suitable for the Governor's mansion was built on a slight elevation, with
outbuildings and a terraced garden sloping down to the river. The furnishings were luxurious for that
time-satin and camlet curtains. Penn
gave much attention during his first visit to America to the preparation of
what he then hoped would be his permanent home, where he might pursue his
favorite occupation of agriculture and pass his closing years in the midst of
beautiful and peaceful surroundings. Here was generous hospitality offered to
all who sought the counsel or friendship of the beloved proprietor. Hannah
Penn, too, was loved by the colonist, but when the novelty of the wilderness
had worn away, she and here daughter Laetitia familiarly known as
"Tishe", had no cordial love for the country of their adoption, nor
did they grieve when matters of business required them to return to
England. The rustic wilderness life was
irksome to the light-hearted Tishe, and the tedious ride to meeting in the
calashe, when the roads were too muddy for the heavy coach, may have been taken
with a rebellious spirit. Perchance when
the sermon seemed over long her flirtatious eyes wandered across the aisle to
cheer the heart of some shy admirer, for we learn she had many.

Nancy Lloyd gives
this vivid picture of entertainment at Pennsbury, when the Governor had bidden
Indians to a banquet, all to be in readiness for the third day. "There be
turkeys to pluck and vegetables of many sorts to prepare; venison and hams and
mutton, also pastries of our own fruits.
Hannah Penn will have no stint; and truly when one has seen an Indian
eat, one knows that a hundred turkeys are not too many to provide when a party
of them has been bidden. We hope no
storm or thunder gust shall mar its success."

Perhaps it was this
same banquet that John Richardson, an English Friend, describes in his journal.
He says: "I stayed two or three days; part of the time I spent in seeing
William Penn and many of the Indians in Counsel and Consultation, all of which
was done in much calmness of temper and in an amicable way." And when they had ended, William Penn gave
them match coats and some other things with some brandy or rum, or both, and
metheglin (a beverage from honey), after which they went out of the house into
an open place not far from it to perform their cantico, or worship.

The minutes make no
mention of Penn's attendance at meeting nor of his taking part in its affairs,
except at the time of his departure in 1701.
He then asked for an irregular procedure in the accomplishment of the
marriage of John Sotcher and Mary Loftys, who he wished to leave at Pennsbury
as caretakers.

The manor house
continued to be the scene of hospitality after Penn left eh country, as
witnessed by the visit in 1702 of Lord Cornbury, then Governor of New York, a
cousin of Queen Anne. Logan sent up wine
and "what could be got" from Philadelphia and hastened thither to
receive the distinguished guest. He
writes "With Mary's diligence (Mary Loftys Sotcher) and all our care we
got a really handsome country entertainment which, though much inferior to those
of Philadelphia for cost, yet for decency and good order gave no less
satisfaction." Lord Cornbury and his wife made a second visit to Pennsbury
two years later as the guest of William Penn, Junior.

John and Mary
Sotcher, ancestors of many here, took charge of Pennsbury for many years and
were active and valuable members of this meeting. Their daughter Mary became the third wife of
Joseph Kirkbride, who was employed at Pennsbury for a time. He is said to have run away from his master
in England and started for the new world with a little wallet of clothing and a
flail. He was an influential minister among Friends, and in later years, when
he became wealthy, bought a large tract of land between the Falls and Yardley.

The name of many
other pioneer families might be mentioned; among them were James and Joan
Burges Moon, who lived on a tract adjoining that of their brother Samuel
Burges. They were the progenitors of all
the Moons in this locality. Another
pioneer family was that of William and Pleasant Mead Satterthwaite, who settled
here in 1735 and whose descendants are numerous in the county today.

From these sketches
of our founders we catch a glimpse of their personalities and we may b justly
proud that through them this meeting and Bucks County came largely into
prominence in the formative years of the colony. It is said that for a number
of years the men from Falls controlled the county and much county business was
transacted here after meetings. They were qualified for leadership naturally as
well as through the necessity of assuming governmental duties immediately on
their arrival. Their judgments ere
tempered by their Christian spirit, which made them well fitted to deal wisely
with the perplexing problems incident to the founding of a colony.

Could these old oaks, which we so dearly love speak with
audible voices, they could tell you much more than I of the scenes that have
occurred here since William Penn hitched his horse to one of them. For two centuries and a half they have
witnessed the comings and goings of our forbears and have watched one
generation of children after another grow to maturity and fill the places of
their parents. How well we remember the
faces of those who occupied these facing seats when we were children! For these memories we are truly grateful, as
well as for the records of the past which tell us that ours has been indeed a
goodly heritage.